Lures



April 3, 1956 F. J. DEDRICK 2,740,225

LURES Filed May 3, 1952 INVENTOR.

' y FIJIYOJ :rr' PEPRIC K United States PatentQ LURES Francis J.Dedrick, Corning, N. Y.

Application May 3, 1952, Serial No. 285,945

Claims. (Cl. 43-42.34)

The present invention relates to lures and particularly to lures whichinclude a concave-convex body of generally ovate outline commonly andhereinafter referred to as a spoon forming part of an artificial bait orfish lure assembly.

It has been the general practice to make such spoons of metals brightlypolished in their natural color, to plate them with rare metals and/orto apply various colorful surface decorations thereto. Spoons of varyingsizes, shapes and degrees of concavity have conventionally been employedto give them movements in the water as they are drawn therethroughconsidered best suited to create disturbances therein for attracting theattention of game fish.

One object of the present invention is to provide spoons havingconfiguration characteristics making them better simulate the appearanceand action of a minnow as they are drawn through the water.

Another object is to provide spoons having novel optical featuresgreatly enhancing their minnow-like appearance and fish attractingqualities.

A still further object is to provide spoons with or without surfacedecorations having unique light reflecting characteristics.

A still further object is to provide spoons having opticalcharacteristics which are as permanent as the material from which theyare made.

These and other objects and features of the invention will hereinafterbecome apparent and are realized according to the invention instructures composed of light transmitting materials, such as transparentand translucent plastics for example, as well as in metalsconventionally used in the manufacture of spoons employed in artificialbait assemblies. In the application of the invention to transparent ortranslucent plastics, light reflecting ribs are usually formed on theinner or concave surface thereof and are so grouped as to add to theminnow-like appearance of the spoon, particularly as it is being drawnthrough the water. When made of metals similar effects are obtained bypressing in the metal itself similarly arranged alternate ribs andgrooves capable of variably directly reflecting light intercepted by theconcave and convex surfaces thereof. Similar results may be obtained bythe employment of thin rigid sheet plastic material usually, but notnecessarily, with the application of one or more reflective and/ordecorative coatings thereto; or a color blend effect can be attained byemploying two ply sheet plastic material at least one ply of which is ofa color.

In the accompanying drawing Fig. 1 is a side view of an assemblyincluding a spoon embodying the invention composed of thermoplastic orsimilar material.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the spoon of such assembly taken on line2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a similar sectional view of an alternative form of spoonembodying the invention.

Referring to the drawing in detail the spoon designated 11 asillustrated is composed of light transmitting plastic material and is ofovate outline and of concave-convex contour. Spoon 11 is approximately 7in thickness and has formed on the concave surface thereof lightreflecting ribs 12, 13 and 14. As will be noted in Fig. 1 ribs 12, 13and 14 start near the forward end of the upper lengthwise borderingportion of spoon 11 and form arcs terminating at the bottom borderingportion of the spoon in the vicinity of the rear end thereof. Also theribs 12, 13 and 14 are of similar curvature and are so positioned withrespect to one another that they tend to converge along the forward endof the upper bordering edge of the spoon at a narrow angle with respectthereto, whereas as they approach the lower rearward end portion ofth'e'lower bordering edge of the spoon they are substantially at rightangles to such bordering edge and diverge with respect to one another.The reflector thus formed aids in giving the spoon a minnow-likeappearance while making it visible in the water at substantial distanceswithout the need of application of any reflective coating although areflective and/or a decorative coating may, if desired, be appliedthereto and/or such a coating may similarly be applied to the concavesurface of the spoon where it will be protected from abrasion due to theconcavity thereof.

An additional rib 15 may also be provided to simulate a minnow mouth.Also it will be noted the eye 16 at the forward end of the spoon has ataper 17 to make such eye appear more like that of a minnow, thusenhancing its minnow-like appearance. It will additionally be noted thatthe long bordering portions such as 10 of the spoon 11 is itself curvedrather than being along a straight line. This shape characteristic givesthe spoon additional action as it is drawn through the water.

A spoon such as 11 may readily be made by cutting a blank of ovate formfrom a sheet of transparent or translucent thermoplastic material andthen heating the same to plasticity and pressing it to the configurationshown.

Alternatively a two ply sheet of thermoplastic material, or two sheetsof such a material one colored and one transparent for example cementedor otherwise joined to one another, may be cut to ovate form andsubjected to heat and pressure to form a spoon having such desiredoptical characteristics and the permanent color characteristics of theplastic.

In the alternative form of spoon illustrated in Figs. 3 the spoon 48 issimply embossed to form ribs 18, 19

and 20 on the concave side which results also in the formation ofcompanion grooves 23 to 26, and ribs 27 and 28. When the spoon 48 iscomposed of metal it is either highly polished or plated with highlyreflective metals, varying light reflecting effects are produced bylight intercepted by such ribs and grooves from either side of thespoon. As with the use of plastic, decorative enamels or even glazes maybe applied in one or more of the grooves to add contrast and decorativeeffects useful in attracting the attention of fish.

Obviously the form of spoon 48 may also be made of plastic in the samefashion that spoon 11 is made. When made of transparent or translucentplastic the ribs formed on either side thereof function as reflectorswhose opposite grooved surfaces require no reflective coating althoughif desired they may be coated for varied effect if desired withoutdeviating from the spirit or concept of the invention.

I claim:

1. In an article of manufacture a lure comprising a concave-convex spoonof generally ovate outline having on a surface thereof a group of lightreflecting longitudinally extending arcuate ribs converging toward oneanother near the upper forward marginal edge of the spoon, divergingfrom one another near the other end thereof and terminating near thelower rear marginal edge of the spoon.

2. An article such as defined by claim 1 wherein the ribs are formed onthe concave surface thereof.

3. An article such as defined by claim 1 wherein a light reflecting ribis located in the lower forward end thereof.

4. An article such as defined by claim 1 wherein the ribs approach oneedge in a direction at small angles with respect to the borderingoutline formed thereby and approach the opposite edge in a directionsubstantially normal to its outline.

5. An article such as defined by claim 4 wherein one end of the ribsterminates pointing in the general direction of one end of the spoon andthe other end of the ribs terminate pointing toward a bordering longedge thereof.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

